Generation Grimm
by Evelina Duile
Summary: When three college coeds seemingly disappear into thin air, New Seattle City Police Chief Wu calls on a next generation Grimm to help solve the case.


NEW SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

2037

The dormitory's air was filled with deafening screech metal and the sweet stale smell of weed sticks, as drunken coeds stumbled down the halls with stoned guys in pursuit. It was four on a Sunday morning and the slumber party was winding down.

Three of the coeds, Amelia Connors, Shannon Riley, and Misty Lander, were chugging down bomber shots, while incoherently giggling and partying within the confines of their dorm room. Several guys, like horny hyenas, were scratching at their locked door.

"Go away!" Amelia cried out, as she gargled malt liquor like mouthwash. This was followed by more drunken laughter from Shannon and Misty. Suddenly, a female voice from the other side of the door.

"Time to call it a night, girls! Its getting late and I don't want campus security to shut us down."

The voice was of Shelby Long, the dorm room advisor. It was her job to shut down the party and police the area and send all the male "guests" on their merry way if they hadn't of been invited to stay the night already.

"Just another hour, Shelby! Please!" Misty called out.

"Fifteen minutes, that's all," Shelby replied, "when I make it back this way I better hear silence and see darkness coming out of this room."

There was no reply, so Shelby moved on. It was the last she was to hear or see of the three girls in dorm room 23. Later that morning the three room mates seemed to have vanished into thin air.

The missing girl's families demanded answers. The University demanded answers. The city of New Seattle demanded answers. The New Seattle Police had none. Only one clue. The dorm room's floor seemed to have been covered with some type of mystery moss.

The police lab had determined the moss was a very rare form not found anywhere near the region for at least several hundred years.

Chief Wu was as perplexed and even after placing his finest detectives on the case, it remained cold. So he decided to "think outside the box" and bring in a special consultant and even though it was late Wu picked up the phone and placed the call.

It was a small and very old tin trailer parked on the edge of an abandoned RV park near the outskirts of the city. The receiver gently vibrated off the lamp table next to the mattress on the ragged shag carpet of the trailer's floor.

The covers on the mattress were slightly pushed back and the girl brushed back her dark long hair away from her face and lazily reached over to pick up the receiver.

"Lo?" she sleepily mumbled.

"Natalie?" the familiar voice echoed from the other end.

"Uh-huh," came the unenthusiastic reply.

"Got another strange case for ya, Nat."

Chief Wu tried to sound as enthusiastic and as positive as he could. The girl slowly primed herself up on her elbow and loudly yawned, as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and tried to focus her thoughts.

"When do you want me there?" she asked, getting right to the point.

"As soon as you can," came Wu's reply.

"See ya in twenty minutes," she answered, as she hung up.

As the sun began to rise over the city and rays beamed brightly through the main window on into Wu's office, he noticed amongst the morning hustle and bustle of the squad room police officers, lab techs, and arrestees, a pretty girl slowly walking down the hallway headed towards his office. She was dressed in black leather pants, white tank top, and a long leather jacket with dark hair that flowed halfway down her back. Natalie Burkhardt had arrived

Wu appreciated the fact that Natalie, like her father was a person of responsibility and few words and though she wasn't a cop, even more important was the fact that like her father, she was a next generation Grimm. Wu waved her on into the office.

"What up, Wu?' she tiredly greeted.

"You need to get more rest, girl," Wu jokingly started, noting the exhaustion that shown in her darkly intense eyes.

"Listen Chiefie, I was resting just fine until you called," Natalie teasingly replied with a subtle smile.

"I wouldn't of called if this wasn't a weird one," Wu said in a more serious tone.

"I figured it had to be," Natalie replied, as she sundered down onto the leather couch across from Wu's desk in the corner. Wu began to fill her in on what he knew so far.

"Could I see the moss report?" she asked.

Wu handed her the report.

"I'll need a sample of that moss as well," she requested.

"I'll have one sent right over," Wu answered, as he made the call to the lab. Minutes later a technician dropped a sample off.

"I'm going to borrow this and do some checking on my own," Natalie began, "I'll let ya know what I find. Meanwhile, I'll head over to the University later tonight for a little visit."

"Want some backup?"

Naw, better if I show up alone. Less conspicuous than bringing along a posse."

Wu nodded.

"Be careful, Nat," he said, in a fatherly fashion. Ever since Natalie's father had been killed in a Reaper trap when she was only ten, Wu had always behaved like a surrogate father towards her, or at least like an adopted Uncle.

"I always am," she replied with a wink, as she got up to leave.

Taking her X-80 electric cycle, she streaked down the rain soaked Seattle streets and headed back home. Home being the very same trailer that had belonged to her great Aunt Marie. A great Grimm in her own right.

Natalie had digitized all of her Grimm ancestor's notes, diaries, and drawings, over the years, but she still kept all the original books locked up securely in several safes. Many a night, she would take a book from a safe and open up to a random page and just read. It somehow helped her connect with her ancestry, as well as her legacy. It also made her feel good.

This day she read up on the mystery moss and discovered something interesting. A solid clue she could take with her that night at the University dorm where the missing girls had vanished. That evening when she arrived, another party had already started.

As she walked down the dorm hallway, she managed to dodge several more drunken coeds and several flirtations from some guys who were apparently "guests" of some of the residents. She finally found the girl's room which was still covered in yellow crime scene tape. As Natalie started to check to see if the door was unlocked someone behind her suddenly blurted out.

"WHO YOU?!"

Natalie turned to see a couple of obviously drunken girls drinking straight from a bottle and a couple of guys leaning against the hallway wall, beers in hand.

"I'm Natalie Burkhardt," she stated real friendly like, "I'm working with the Seattle police in regards to the disappearances. Who are you?"

One girl giggled as she took another swig from the bottle, drops of whiskey rolling off her chin.

"Shelby Long," she slurred, "I'm the floor advisor here."

_Great, she's the advisor, _Natalie cynically thought_. _

"I was wondering if I could talk to you for a moment?" Natalie asked.

"Well as you can see, I'm kinda busy right now," Shelby drunkenly smiled, "could you, like, come back tomorrow afternoon? Late?"

"This will only take a few moments," Natalie impatiently replied.

The girl frowned at the thought of the inconvenience.

"Okay," she reluctantly answered, "but only for a moment. Lets go down the hall to the study rooms. No one will be in there tonight, so it'll be quieter."

"Lead the way," Natalie replied, as she followed the stumbling "advisor" down the hall and to a small room off to the side.

"What do you want to talk about? Do you have any new info on what the hell happened?!" Shelby asked.

"No new info. I want to investigate some more, maybe spend some time in the room."

"Oh, you do, do you?!" Shelby snickered.

Natalie smiled, "I want to follow up on some things, that all."

Shelby just shrugged, "Aw, what do I care? You got nothing better to do than hang in that spooky ol' room, then be my guest. Although, I don't know how this is going to help you find out what happened."

"What did happen?" Natalie suspiciously asked.

"Hell if I know!" Shelby sadly replied, "As far as I knew everything was cool. Amelia, Shannon, and Misty were having fun. Laughing and yakking. They all were pretty drunk, I told them to cool it for the night and that I'd be back to check up on them. When I got back their room was dark and quiet so I guessed they had fallen asleep. No one saw them the rest of the night. I guess no one ever saw them ever again."

Natalie noticed the tears that began to flow down Shelby's cheeks.

"Well, maybe I'll be able to help find some answers," Natalie said, hoping to reassure the girl. Shelby nodded as they headed back down the hallway to the room, where she rejoined the others and continued to party. Natalie sipped cola and talked casually to some of the other coeds. They all said pretty much the same or were too drunk that night to remember anything at all.

Several hours later, the party died down. Some of the boys left, drunk, downtrodden, and horny, for not getting lucky and laid. Others disappeared into coed's rooms. Some just fell asleep with the help of more alcohol and the lateness of the hour.

Natalie entered the room and sat in a corner and waited. After reading up in one of her ancestor's books, she had a sneaking suspicion of what might have happened and what might happen tonight. Now only time would tell. Near dawn she found out.

At first she noticed a green glow directly under one of the beds. Amelia's to be specific. Natalie quickly moved to a corner of the room and hid within the shadows cast by the glow.

The strange light intensified, then suddenly shapes slithered out from the center of the glow's vortex. Natalie shielded her eyes from the brightness to try and get a look see. She could make out three shapes. They slowly moved around the room as if in search of something or someone.

One shape stood over one of the beds as it gently touched the sheets. The second shape did the same to where Misty had slept. The third to Shannon's bed. It was as if they expected some one new was now sleeping under those sheets. When the one shape slightly turned, the glow illuminated its face and confirmed what Natalie had suspected. Bavarian Bridge Trolls, back looking for their next conquest. Natalie quickly made her move.

She immediately pulled out a double bolted crossbow she carried snugly strapped in a hidden back holster and fired a steel bolt point blank into the head of the nearest Troll, as it turned its ugly misshapen skull her way.

Purple pus splattered into the air as the bolt met its mark slicing through the Troll's thick neck. It screamed out in an Ungodly wail of pain as it turned to run back into the vortex. The other two Trolls, at the first inkling of trouble, had already disappeared back into the opening. Natalie knew she would have to move fast before the vortex closed, so she followed by jumping directly into the rapidly closing vortex.

At first all she could see was a thick green mist. She could still detect movement up ahead, so she continued on until she found herself in the center of a thick forest.

Just ahead she could still see the three Trolls walking on a thin trail of green moss. Natalie obviously now knew how the moss had gotten onto the missing girl's room. After a few minutes, she saw the Trolls enter a clearing where more shapes awaited. From there the Trolls turned and entered what appeared to be a small cave entrance in the side of a hill covered in thick ivy.

Natalie placed the crossbow back into the holster then reached into a suede leather sheath she had clipped on a leather belt under her jacket and pulled out a silver sword she had taken from her Aunt Marie's collection. A sword made from special materials mined from minerals found at Stonehenge England. She cautiously entered the cave.

Several lighted torches cast an eerie glow off the cave's walls. As her eyes adjusted to the subtle darkness, she noticed three other shapes but these were not Trolls. These were of human form. They were female and were tied down with thick vines in the corner of the cave. As Natalie approached she immediately realized she had just found the missing coeds. They seemed to be drugged, as they all just stared blankly into the air.

Suddenly from out of the shadows, two Trolls appeared. Their fiery red eyes glowed with an intense hungry anger as they attempted to trap Natalie against the far cave wall. She hastily brought about the silver sword and with one swift and clean thrust, decapitated both Trolls. Their heads, rolling like ugly bowling balls had enough backward momentum to carry them on out the cave's entrance.

Without hesitation, more Trolls appeared and attempted to surround her. Natalie immediately pulled out her .768 Grimm Special from a holster clipped on the other side of her belt and began to blast away. The gun's report was deafening within the cave's confines, as one Troll's head exploded into a dozen globs of fragments, while another had bloody chunks blast out the back of its deformed skull, as the hollow point bullets did their job.

Natalie could hear footsteps from further down the cave. Even more Trolls were on the way! She ran over to the girls and using a switch bladed gutter knife she pulled out of a suede sheath, cut the vines off and dragged them up and back out the cave. All three girl's were still in a trance and offered no resistance.

"Move back up the trail, into the green light!" Natalie ordered.

"Are we dead?!" the one girl, Misty, asked robotically.

"Not yet!" Natalie answered, "but if you don't haul your asses out of here, you soon will be!"

The one named Shannon seemed to snap out of her trance, as she looked around in confusion.

"Am I dreaming?!" she nervously asked.

"Yeah, its all just a dream," Natalie lied, "NOW MOVE, GOD DAMMITT!"

Amelia led the way, as the other two girls quickly followed.

Natalie glanced back to see two rapidly approaching Trolls who were almost on top of her. She quickly pulled out of her pocket another object from Aunt Marie's collection. A pair of red ruby chain chucks, but not before the nearest Troll grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her up off the ground. The other approached and grabbed her legs in an attempt to rip her apart.

"Make a wish, Grimm!" the second Troll gleefully garbled.

"You're gonna wish I'd killed you first, asshole!" she replied, as she managed to kick her legs free then with a swing of the chuck, sliced off the thick arm of the Troll who had a hold of her, but the other Troll managed to duck away from her back swing and grabbed her once again, this time throwing her over its shoulder. In the process, she lost her gun and chuck. She managed to hang on to the sword.

"You're a feisty one!" the Troll muttered in a guttural fashion, "but Grimm's usually are! You're gonna make a fine trophy!"

"Not today, Toad face!" Natalie sternly replied, as she took the sword and jammed it deep into its skull. This Troll, apparently impervious to the pain, continued to walk into the cave with the sword sticking out the top of its hardened head. But it did slightly loosen its grip on Natalie just enough for her to manage to squeeze out and tear ass back down the moss laden trail, in the process knocking over the now one armed Troll who, in his effort to try and retrieve his severed stump, hadn't taken notice of Natalie's escape.

As she approached the greenish glow, she saw the girls standing in front of the spinning vortex.

"Go on through!" Natalie yelled, "go on through!" But they just stood before the entrance, dazed and confused. Natalie grabbed each one and literally tossed them back into the vortex, then jumped through herself.

Within seconds they all found themselves back in the quiet of the dorm room.

Without saying a word, all three girls walked over to their beds, crawled in, then went back to sleep, as if nothing had ever happened. Natalie knew that in the morning any memory they may have managed to retain would seem like a dream, if they retained any memory at all.

She also knew what she had to do. She reached into her pocket for a small bag of special herbs called Witch's Foot. She opened the bag and took a handful of the spice and threw it straight into the vortex of the glow.

There was an immediate electric-like crackle, as the vortex spun faster and faster until it began to shrink. Soon the glow became just a pinpoint of light before it disappeared. Natalie let herself out of the room, as the girls peacefully slept. The party seemed to have already wound down and she quickly made her way through the thinning crowd and out the dorm building into the misty morning air.

She realized the moss sample she had examined and read from her Aunt Marie's notes, were usually found in enchanted forests and the only way to an enchanted forest was through a vortex.

Bavarian Bridge Trolls, as ugly and as stupid as they were, were skilled at using vortexes to travel back and forth between the two worlds. They were also good at kidnapping and killing humans for their blood in order to be sold to other Wesen, particularly Hexenbeists. Unfortunately for these girls that night, these Troll's vortex had materialized in their dorm room.

Natalie had suspected, from reading her ancestor's diaries, the incident was due to these Bavarian Trolls (she had come across a similar case in New Portland a few years ago) and the only way to prove it, was to see if the Trolls would return (like all predators, they usually did) and to use that special magical herb, Witch's Foot, (good for skin rashes, upset stomachs, and sealing vortexes).

_Never leave home without it, _Natalie smiled to herself.

As she rode off on the X-80, leaving the campus behind, she decided she would file her report to Chief Wu later the next morning but first she was going to go home and treat herself to a nice warm bath and a glass of wine. She figured she owed herself at least that much. She decided she would also turn off her phone.

_No more Grimm business tonight,_ she happily thought.

The End.


End file.
